John l



J. L. ROWE- Police Baton.

Pateted Feb. 28, 1860 Minen/e5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN L. ROWE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND R. F. GLOW, OF SAME PLAGE.

POLICE-CLUB.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 27,835, dated February 28, 1860.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOI-IN L. Rows, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ioliceinens Clubs; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is an external view of my invention. Fig. 2, is a longitudinal central section of the same, with its sheath partially removed.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

The objectof this invention is to prevent the club being wrenched from the hand of the policeman, while in the discharge of his duty, a contingency which frequently occurs, and subjects the oflicer to punishment from his own weapon.

The invention consists in providing the club, which is constructed similar to those ordinarily used, with a sheath or cover secured by a spring catch in proper position on the club and so arranged that when'the club is grasped by an opponent, the officer, by actuating the spring catch releases the sheath, which is the only part that can be seized or grasped by the opponent, consequently liberates the club, the sheath being left in the hands of the opponent, and the naked club in the hands of the policeman or oiliicer.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents a policemans club, which may be of the ordinary form and size.

B represents a sheath which is simply a hollow cylinder of such dimensions as to fit snugly over the main portion or body of the club. At the inner part of the sheath, at its inner side there is a groove or notch a., made circumferentially and into which a catch C fits and prevents the sheath from being casually detached from the club. This catch C may be simply a fiat steel spring Z), fitted in' a recess c, in the club and secured at one end as shown at d, the opposite end having a thumb knob e, attached to it, and a projection f, attached to about the center of the spring, the projection being kept in the groove c, by the elasticity of the spring Z). This will be fully understood by referring to Fig. 2, in which the sheath is shown, secured on the club in red. The knob e, of the spring Z), is at the inner end of the handle g of the club, and the inner end of the sheath, when litted on the club, abuts against a ledge or hilt l1., at the inner end of the handle, as shown in black in Fig. l, and in red, Fig. 2.

The club may be turned out of wood as usual, and the sheath B, may be of wood or of sheet metal. If wood be used, the grooves a, may be formed by securing a metal ring a in a recess in the inner side of the sheath.

If the club when used, be seized by an opponent, the sheath B, of course is the only7 part that can be grasped, and the officer, by depressing the knob e, will throw the projection out from the groove a, and thereby liberate the sheath, and free the club from his opponent, the latter retaining the sheath, which is light, and perfectly useless as a weapon.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The employment or use of a sheath B, applied to or fitted on a policemans club A, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

JOHN L. ROVE.

lVitnesses A. l/V. COCHRAN, B. GIROUX. 

